Asus ExpertBook Ultra Review: Brilliant Screen, Weak GPU

Within the Asus range, ExpertBook is the family aimed at business users, complete with specific warranties, a distribution network built around IT resellers and, of course, the professional edition of Windows. The ExpertBook Ultra makes a case for wider attention because its specification sheet is loaded with the newest technology available, much of which is destined to filter down into Asus consumer lines such as the Zenbook.

Inside sits Intel's latest Panther Lake processor, accompanied by 32 GB of memory and a 1 TB PCIe 5 SSD. The other headline is the Tandem OLED panel, capable of 1400 cd/m2 at HDR peak and treated with a matt finish that promises to cut 80% of unwanted reflections. The configuration reviewed here uses the Intel Core Ultra 7, which does without the Arc B390 graphics part, and that omission shapes a good deal of what follows.

The ExpertBook Ultra uses an aluminium alloy chassis with a Nano Ceramic finish that closely resembles the Ceraluminium used on Zenbooks. On paper the treatment makes the machine tougher and less prone to showing fingerprints.

Asus advertises a slim set of measurements, but in the flesh the ExpertBook Ultra is bulkier than an Apple MacBook Air, largely because of its non-slip feet. The same goes for weight: the maker quotes 1 kg, yet on the scales the machine came in at exactly 1116 g. That is not a deal-breaker, but it does mean the ExpertBook Ultra no longer belongs in the sub-kilogram class.

The lid opens with one finger and reveals the matt-finished OLED panel supplied by Corning. One note of caution about the hinge on the loan sample: it felt abnormally loose. Left ajar at any reasonable angle, the screen would eventually close itself, and picking the machine up to carry it into a meeting sent the display swinging back to its stop. Asus, when asked, stated that only this preproduction unit was affected.

Inside is a layout familiar from the Zenbooks, along with a tone-on-tone keyboard. Light-coloured keys in grey and white become illegible in daylight once the backlight is switched on, and regular users will grumble about the half-height Enter key. Otherwise the typing action is pleasant and the keyboard is rigid enough not to behave like a trampoline.

The generously sized touchpad occupies almost the entire depth between the keyboard and the edge of the chassis. Its glass surface glides smoothly and even supports virtual gestures: brightness on the right edge, volume on the left edge and video timeline scrubbing along the top, all with haptic feedback that imitates the detent of a physical wheel. It is a genuine success.

The webcam uses a Full HD sensor that produces a correct rather than exceptional image. Detail is lacking, but because Windows Studio Effects such as auto-framing, eye tracking and background blur are handled by the processor's NPU, switching them on does not greatly dent battery life.

On connectivity Asus stays faithful to its usual doctrine of fitting as many ports as possible: HDMI, two USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, two USB-A ports and a headphone socket. Anyone who handles memory cards regularly will need a USB-C hub, as there is no built-in reader. Wireless provision is at the top of the current tree, with Wi-Fi 7 running 320 MHz channels, 4K-QAM and MLO, reaching close to 4 GB/s in practice, plus Bluetooth in its sixth iteration.

To keep the Intel Core Ultra 7 in check, Asus has fitted three heat pipes feeding two radiators, supported by two fans. That is a substantial cooling system for an ultraportable, and it keeps the machine cool even under the heaviest load. Better still, it stays extremely discreet, registering only 31.9 dB during a video encode. That is close to a record for acoustic restraint in an actively cooled laptop, and it means the ExpertBook Ultra will go completely unnoticed in a meeting even while a Premiere render runs in the background.

The review machine supplied by Asus carries an Intel Core Ultra 7 356H, 32 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD. The processor has 16 cores in total: four performance cores, eight efficient cores and four ultra-low-power cores reserved for the most basic tasks. The integrated graphics part, by contrast, makes do with four Xe3 execution units. Asus has chosen not to offer the Core Ultra X7 variant with the Intel Arc B390 graphics circuit and its 12 Xe3 cores, which affects the performance of every application that leans on GPU acceleration, Blender, Premiere and Photoshop among them.

With the Core Ultra 7 356H the ExpertBook Ultra returns an index of 79, putting it on a level with machines such as the Samsung Galaxy Book6 Pro and the Dell XPS 14 that use the same generation of Intel Panther Lake silicon. Panther Lake, it is worth recalling, is an architecture that leans heavily on energy efficiency and on the performance of the integrated Arc B390 GPU, which is precisely the part Asus has left out, most likely for reasons of cost.

The upshot is that processor performance alone, while far from ridiculous, sits behind Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2, AMD's Ryzen 300 series and Apple Silicon M5. Calling on the four Xe3 graphics cores for rendering work in Blender, Photoshop or Premiere does not recover that deficit, whereas 12 cores would have changed the picture. The decision to bring the Core Ultra 7 rather than the X7 to market here is a genuine disappointment.

In day-to-day use, though, the Core Ultra 7 is perfectly capable of handling advanced office work and rather more besides. A 3D scene rendered in Blender, a video encoded in Premiere and photo retouching in Photoshop all went through without difficulty; the only requirement is patience during export.

As with every ultraportable of this kind, Shadow of the Tomb Raider was used to gauge the integrated graphics. Unsurprisingly the machine manages 30 fps at 1920 x 1200 on the Very High preset. A Core Ultra X7 with its Arc B390 more than doubles that, at 62 fps, when it has adequate cooling behind it.

Storage is where Asus has held nothing back. The PCIe 5 SSD reaches 14 GB/s read and 12 GB/s write in practice, close to double what is normally seen in a chassis of this type.

The ExpertBook Ultra uses a Tandem OLED panel running 2800 x 1800 pixels with a variable refresh rate between 48 and 120 Hz.

Under the probe it proves perfectly calibrated, with a delta E of 2, comfortably below the threshold of 3 at which the eye starts to notice colour drift. Colour temperature sits at 6745 K, very close to the 6500 K video standard, and a quick adjustment in the MyAsus application corrects that last point.

Being an OLED, the panel delivers a near-infinite contrast ratio with absolute blacks, alongside response time below a millisecond. Maximum measured brightness reaches 630 cd/m2, which is as good as anything currently available on a laptop, with an HDR peak brushing 1400 cd/m2. Combined with an anti-reflective treatment that brings the coating's reflectance down to just 9%, that makes the ExpertBook Ultra the strongest choice on the market for working outdoors.

Four speakers are fitted: two tweeters set either side of the keyboard and two woofers underneath the chassis. On paper the arrangement is close to ideal, with the tweeters aimed at the user and the woofers using the desk surface to project. The caveat is soft surfaces such as cushions and duvets, which risk smothering the woofers and tipping the balance towards the treble alone.

In use there is little to criticise. Once the Dolby Access equaliser is switched off, the result is satisfying. At high volume some saturation does creep in, which is not the case on a MacBook Air.

The headphone output is also very convincing, with imperceptible distortion, an output level capable of driving high-impedance headphones and a high dynamic range. If one had to quibble, crosstalk is slightly behind the best, but nothing about it is abnormal.

Asus fits a 70 Wh battery, a considerable capacity for an ultraportable and one that buys real breathing room. A 90 W charger accompanied the review machine, but it is not supplied in the box.

On a test protocol simulating office activity with a dash of content creation, mixing web browsing, video playback and 3D rendering, the ExpertBook Ultra lasted 7 hours 14 minutes. That is a convincing result and enough to see out a day away from a socket.

The ExpertBook Ultra opens after ten Torx screws are removed and the lower shell is unclipped, an operation for which a suction cup is more than welcome. Inside, only the SSD and the battery can be removed and replaced. The memory and the Wi-Fi card are soldered, which is a shame.

Anyone opening the machine should know that it carries an optical sensor that detects the case being opened and shuts the laptop down if it has not already been switched off. To start it again, the power supply must be connected once the chassis has been closed.

Asus quotes a repairability index of 9.9 out of 10. As usual, the brand is generous in its self-assessment: 80% of that figure rests on administrative criteria such as the availability of the manual and drivers and the cost of spare parts relative to a new machine, while only 20% concerns the design of the product itself. A fuller assessment also has to weigh up the scope for upgrades, the place of manufacture and how easily components can be reached, and on those measures the ExpertBook Ultra is only partly convincing.